# How can I tell if a shadowboxed cohiba is real?



## karii (Sep 18, 2015)

Hello cigar enthusiasts, 

Ever since yesterday, I knew minimal info about the fuss on cuban cigars. All I knew was that they were illegal since the 60s and that had something to do with Fidel Castro. Im a young college girl residing in a hispanic neighborhood of Chicago, and noticed that an empty retail space next door to me was rented out to a woman who turned it into a mini thrift store and filled it up with some vintage antiques. One of the items displayed on a window caught my attention, it was a Scarface framed movie poster of Tony Montana (Al Pacino) smoking a cigar with a shadowboxed cigar inside. Im a big fan of the movie and have never heard of a cigar inside a movie poster (or whatever this type of memorabilia is called) so I impulsively bought it from her for 30 bucks. A lot of local stores around here have great imports from Latin America and sometimes you can really find a diamond in the rough for a great deal so I took the gamble. Unfortunately, the lady didnt know any English and only could nod if I asked her if it's legitimate (of course she would) Anyway I just thought this thing was pretty badass so I didn't care too much about that at first.

But when I came home, I was intrigued by the actual cigar itself, as it looked so well crafted and searched online to trace down the exact model and how old it might be. It appears to be a Cohiba Lanceros Standard Band C, therefore it was made between 1993-2003 and has been discontinued since. I also found out how this is one of the most replicated cigars sold as fraud. According to some experts, you can usually tell if one of these are fake by just looking at it, but as I look through the box, I haven't spotted out any red flags that people talk about.. Although I gotta admit, this band certainly doesnt look too hard to replicate compared to others..
So my main question is, what can I do to confirm the authenticity about it without having to tear the back of the frame and opening it up? 
And if it is real, can it be kept in the box for another decade or so without it disintegrating or getting moldy? Its currently in excellent condition, I can tell it has been barely touched and is secured pretty well in there.. 
I have searched all over for answers, but I know that everything has its circumstances so I decided to register here and see if any of you who are familiar with this, would have any answers for my curiosity..
If this, in fact, is a real cohiba, what is its up-to-date price on it? Will it increase throughout time if I decide to hold on to it? I found retail prices on others and some on this one from 2005-2009, but know that its possible to significantly change after a decade or so..
Any insight would be appreciated! 
Thanks )

**I have added some pictures below
Unfortunatly, Its a bit hard to make them clear because of the reflection of the screen


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## ForceofWill (Sep 6, 2008)

Looks fake to me from my phone but I'd say regardless it's worthless being in there for years without proper humidity and god knows what Temps.


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## Bird-Dog (Oct 16, 2009)

Fake.


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## karii (Sep 18, 2015)

Ahh I couldn't rotate the pictures, didn't realize until now that they would come out that way..

thanks for your input, what gave it away? And how can you tell that it's not worth smoking anymore?


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## ForceofWill (Sep 6, 2008)

karii said:


> Ahh I couldn't rotate the pictures, didn't realize until now that they would come out that way..
> 
> thanks for your input, what gave it away? And how can you tell that it's not worth smoking anymore?


Even if it was real cigars aren't like old gold coins, you can't just find one in your grandfather's attic and hit the jackpot. They need to be kept at the proper humidity and temp ranges .


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Even with the sideways or upside down photo it's a fau-hiba for sure. The white squares on the band aren't even nearly credible....I didn't even look any further. The Tony Montana photo was a nice touch, though. The picture can be copied ( bet it was for about 3 cents from a Laser or Digital printer....the band less than 1 cent and the cigar...probably a 50 cent cigar....if that ) and it is upsetting that people sell fakes even here in the good ole USA. I'd put it on the wall as collage, though. Don't smoke that cigar...probably loaded with wood dust and rotten leaves.


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## karii (Sep 18, 2015)

How are the white squares supposed to look like in that case? From what I've seen, it looks fairly identical to pictures online. 

I can see why people sell fakes, as a regular person who isn't well informed about this, it looks good enough to me compared to pictures of bands online.
And I don't intend to smoke it, I just want to know in case I were to sell it later on. I wouldn't want to tell someone that this is a real Cuban and let them smoke pouporri haha


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

karii said:


> How are the white squares supposed to look like in that case? From what I've seen, it looks fairly identical to pictures online.
> 
> I can see why people sell fakes, as a regular person who isn't well informed about this, it looks good enough to me compared to pictures of bands online.
> And I don't intend to smoke it, I just want to know in case I were to sell it later on. I wouldn't want to tell someone that this is a real Cuban and let them smoke pouporri haha


Google "fake cohiba bands" and you'll see what I am referring to. The white squares should ALWAYS be uniform....straight, all the way across and not looking like they have been cut off which the cigar referenced is. It's not uniform on the top with a big space between the last row and the portion of the black where it looks chopped/cut. I usually don't like commenting on this because I know people pay hard earned money and who likes to have somebody tell them they just got taken to the cleaners? Buying CC's is not for the uneducated....you're going to get fooled because the people who sell them have been doing it for along time and they are quite good in their craft of cheating others.....know YOUR Vendor...know what you are buying and don't buy anything until you know what you're doing....please.


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## quazy50 (Aug 6, 2007)

As said, the dots are not the right size.. the black space between them is too much, and there is too much black space between the top of the band and the dots. On the real band the dots are pretty close to the top if I am not mistaken.

Additionally the font of "Habana, Cuba" looks slightly off and the position isn't right. Too close to the bottom of the band. It's supposed to be more symmetrical in the center of the space between the white and the bottom of the band.

Color seems a little off, could be the picture though.

Definitely don't smoke it. Has not been maintained at the correct RH and Temp.


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## Sprouthog (Jul 25, 2012)

My goto CC reference.

http://www.cubancigarwebsite.com/default.aspx


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## karii (Sep 18, 2015)

Okay I appreciate the honest feedback guys, I knew there was a fat chance it wasn't real, so no hard feelings, I just thought it was neat and wanted to know what I'm dealing with here.
Thanks again


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## elco69 (May 1, 2013)

karii said:


> Okay I appreciate the honest feedback guys, I knew there was a fat chance it wasn't real, so no hard feelings, I just thought it was neat and wanted to know what I'm dealing with here.
> Thanks again


even if it was real, not worth anything because of how it was kept.


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## Rick Hendeson (Apr 8, 2014)

Now the picture has two fake Cubans! :vs_laugh::vs_laugh::vs_laugh:


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

Write Al a letter. maybe he will replace it with a real one.


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## 2skinny (Oct 28, 2015)

Thank you for the link. I have a feeling I will be studying this site all day! lol (I'm at work)



Sprouthog said:


> My goto CC reference.


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